


your skin on mine

by laure_lie (justawks)



Series: Innocent Things [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: ;), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Celebrity, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Music, Alternate Universe - No Powers, Famous bucky, Interviews, M/M, Musician Bucky, Social Media, Student Steve, Tattooed Bucky, Tattoos, Twitter, YouTube, YouTuber Bucky, basically just bucky gushing about steve via the internet, everyone loves bucky's vlogs bc he's always shirtless in bed, snuck in a shoulder injury bc i'm trash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-08-27 07:50:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8393278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justawks/pseuds/laure_lie
Summary: Barnes happily pulls off the hoodie when prompted, revealing a wifebeater and a whole lot of inked skin. “For the longest time I just had the one,” Barnes says, gesturing to the intricate airplane on his left bicep. “It’s a WWII plane. Steve drew it. It means a lot.” 
***
In which Bucky discusses tattoos and Steve.





	

**Author's Note:**

> More interviews! More twitter! More Bucky gushing about Steve! No actual plot!
> 
> Title from One Last Time, which is way sadder than this ficlet. Bc this ficlet is complete fluff whoops.
> 
> Not betaed or edited tbh, so hit me up if you see mistakes, etc. 
> 
> Enjoy! <3

**James Barnes** _@JBBarnes_  
i love u all so much. thank u for everything.

 

 

 

+++++

 

 

 

**James Barnes on Blogging, Boyfriends, and Buttered Popcorn**  
_By: Elise Major, published February 16, 2017_

 

I’m sure by now you’re all familiar with the name James Barnes. It is, after all, everywhere.

 

After accidentally outing himself on national television just two weeks before his first global tour kicked off, Barnes took it upon himself to begin a crusade of LGBTQ+ education and advocacy in the sphere he knows best - the internet. “It’s a part of who I am, and a huge part of my individual identity, so of course I’m gonna think it’s important. But at the same time, it’d be important even if I was straight as a board. It just felt like the right thing to do. I have a wider audience than most people, and I figured I could use that to my advantage.”

 

And how does Steve, his boyfriend/partner/friend of four years feel about it?

 

“He’s so happy. He keeps coming up with all these ideas for things we can do. He’s a big social justice warrior. You name it, he’s protested or advocated for it. He keeps saying he’s so proud, but I think his views are a little biased.”

 

“Steve had a rough time growing up, even without the fact that he wasn’t straight. That’s basically all I’m gonna say about it, but...he thinks this is this big, brave thing for me to do, to come out and to advocate and to try and help people. For me, being gay has been a non-issue in my life. My parents were fine with it, kids at school were fine with it, I never had a problem with the guys I’ve dated. To me, this isn’t a big step. I know it’s important, but it’s not a risk for me, I guess, if that makes sense.” 

 

When asked about possible drops in sales of tickets or albums, Barnes scoffs. “If my sexuality is gonna make someone not like my music, then that’s fine. It’s good music, the same good music it was a few months ago when everyone assumed I was straight. That’s on them if this changes anything.” 

 

That’s a refreshing statement to hear, given how concerned younger stars these days seem to be about their image. It makes sense - in our modern world, image is everything, and the actions of young stars are scrutinized to the nth degree. To meet a young person so unconcerned with how others see him is a breath of fresh air. 

 

“I get it, I really do,” says Barnes. “It’s not that fun to have everything you do or say picked apart. I’m lucky enough that this has been my biggest scandal, if you can even call it that.”

 

He makes a good point. Media response to his shocking coming out has been remarkably tame. “I think I have Steve to thank for that one,” Barnes says with a smile. 

 

Fair enough. The news that Barnes was in a relationship with a man was arguably overshadowed by information about said man. Steve is a year younger than Barnes, still in school, and a Brooklyn native. The two have been together for four years, but friends for much longer. “We went to highschool together, but we didn’t cross paths a lot. We were friendly, casual friends, maybe. Our circles had some crossover, so we’d see each other from time to time.”

 

It was an incident their senior year which brought them together. 

 

“Steve’s an artist, and sometimes he’d go on the roof of the school to draw. Said it had the best light. I was just a dumb kid. I was scouting for a senior prank idea, looking for the best place to hang a banner, when I tripped. God - it’s so dumb,” Barnes says with a laugh. “It’s amazing how things work out.”

 

He lapses into silence for a moment, then continues. 

 

“It was a wrong place, wrong time kinda thing. My shoelace untied and I tripped and a part of the ledge was wearing away so when I tried to catch myself my foot went through the roof, basically. I almost fell four stories onto concrete, not a good situation.” 

 

But: “Steve caught my wrist. He actually dislocated my shoulder he pulled me back so hard. But he definitely saved my life. We kinda hit it off from there - nothing like a near-death experience to get you your first serious boyfriend, huh?”

 

At this point in the interview I was suddenly struck while looking at Barnes - sitting in a large armchair in Starbucks, wearing a faded hoodie and an old pair of sweats, that famous hair thrown up in a bun at the back of his head, laughing and smiling at the thought of his significant other - how normal he really is. All that fame, all that money, you’d never know he had it just looking at him. How does he feel about all the money?

 

“It’s nice. It’s a comfort. I was a foster kid that ended up getting adopted, but there’s not a lot of money in fostering kids. We didn’t have a lot of stuff when I was growing up. A lot of the money goes to my parents, to pay them back for being so amazing, not that I ever truly can. A lot of it goes to Steve. He’s a college kid, and he’s done so much for me. The least I can do is buy his textbooks.” 

 

And the rest of the money? “Tattoos, for the most part.”

 

Barnes happily pulls off the hoodie when prompted, revealing a wifebeater and a whole lot of inked skin. “For the longest time I just had the one,” Barnes says, gesturing to the intricate airplane on his left bicep. “It’s a WWII plane. Steve drew it. It means a lot.” 

 

He smiles. “But there were others I wanted to get.”

 

A bouquet of roses on his ribs for his mother, Rose. A few music notes (“cliche, I know.”) on the inside of his wrist. An intricate dragon weaving up his right forearm. A star over his heart (“For Steve.”). The date 1/3/17, the first day of his second tour, on his right wrist. 

 

(Steve, he says later, has the same dragon on his right thigh. A similar star is over his heart as well.)

 

When asked how his parents feel about the tattoos, he laughs loudly, drawing a few eyes. “They don’t really care, I don’t think. I’m an adult - a young adult, I guess - so they’ve sort of abandoned trying to stop me from doing things I want to do. Plus, Steve designed a lot of the tattoos, and they’re big fans of his art - have been for a long time.”

 

At this point, I start to steer the conversation towards Barnes’ third love (after music and Steve, of course): YouTube. In recent years, Barnes has become a shockingly popular fashion and daily vlogger. His channel, DailyJames, has over 4 million subscribers, and he’s known for breaking viewing records pretty frequently. “I hit a billion views on a few of my videos a couple weeks ago,” he says with a smile. “That was pretty cool.”

 

His “vlogs”, or video-blogs, are by far the most popular. Most begin with Barnes shirtless and smiling in the early mornings; it’s easy to see why they’re so popular. They follow him through his day, be it tour prep, writing new songs, editing, photo shoots, press events, or lunch with Steve - who doesn’t appear on camera. “He’s not shy or anything, he just sort of sees it as my thing. Plus, he likes being able to walk around without being stopped. He’s got a distinctive look. I think it’d be hard for him to hide if people really knew what he looked like.”

 

Barnes likes to focus on the editing of his videos. “The stuff I do isn’t really that interesting. I try to make up for that with interesting editing and good music and stuff like that. I want it to look good.”

 

So far, the efforts have paid off. He’s one of the top 100 most popular channels on YouTube - the cream of a very competitive, ever-increasing crop. “It’s competitive, sure, but we’re all doing it for the same reason, because we love making videos. It’s a community.”

 

It’s a community in more ways than you think. Barnes’ neighbor across the hall is a popular fitness vlogger, and his co-writer runs her own beauty channel. “YouTubers tend to come together. It’s easier to make content around people who understand what you’re doing. They don’t think it’s weird when you walk around filming yourself talking, or set up time-lapses of you cleaning the house, or staying up until 3 am editing an outro. They get it.” 

 

I ask Barnes which community he’d rather be a part of, if he had to pick: YouTube or music. 

 

“That’s a hard one,” he says. “They both mean so much to me. They’ve both given me so much. I’ll have to pass on that one.”

 

An easier choice: coffee or tea. “I’m a tea guy. Steve likes coffee, but I’ve never been a fan.”

 

Favorite color? “Blue.”

 

Favorite band? “That’s another hard one...Brand New, maybe? I don’t know.”

 

Food he’s craving? “Oh man, buttered popcorn. Steve’s dairy free, so whenever we go to the movies we get plain popcorn. It’s killing me. That shit is so dry.”

 

Favorite person? “It’s between my mom and Steve, no doubt. God, I sound like such a sap. I swear I’m cool!”

 

Looking at his easy smile and classic good looks, I can’t say I disagree. Besides, I’m sure his 4 million YouTube subscribers would agree as well. 

 

_Elise Major has been writing ever since she can remember. She’s currently working on a new novel (out Sept. 2019!) in between our monthly Pop Culture feature and juggling her new role as mom to baby Emma. More of her work can be found at chickwithapen.com_

 

 

 

+++++

 

 

 

**James Barnes** _@JBBarnes_  
The past 5 years have been the best of my life. You are such a wonderful spirit. Love you always  <3 _#happyanniversary_


End file.
